#made for lazy GM

[dragonkid11]

The Lancer Map Creation Tool by Interpoint Station is a program that lets you create complex yet readable battlefields in minutes, featuring a random generator to generate a map in seconds as well as assets integration to create your own terrain asset and biome.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Three AI insights for hard-charging, future-oriented smartypantses

MERE HOURS REMAIN for the Kickstarter for the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There’s also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

Living in the age of AI hype makes demands on all of us to come up with smartypants prognostications about how AI is about to change everything forever, and wow, it's pretty amazing, huh?

AI pitchmen don't make it easy. They like to pile on the cognitive dissonance and demand that we all somehow resolve it. This is a thing cult leaders do, too – tell blatant and obvious lies to their followers. When a cult follower repeats the lie to others, they are demonstrating their loyalty, both to the leader and to themselves.

Over and over, the claims of AI pitchmen turn out to be blatant lies. This has been the case since at least the age of the Mechanical Turk, the 18th chess-playing automaton that was actually just a chess player crammed into the base of an elaborate puppet that was exhibited as an autonomous, intelligent robot.

The most prominent Mechanical Turk huckster is Elon Musk, who habitually, blatantly and repeatedly lies about AI. He's been promising "full self driving" Telsas in "one to two years" for more than a decade. Periodically, he'll "demonstrate" a car that's in full-self driving mode – which then turns out to be canned, recorded demo:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/tesla-video-promoting-self-driving-was-staged-engineer-testifies-2023-01-17/

Musk even trotted an autonomous, humanoid robot on-stage at an investor presentation, failing to mention that this mechanical marvel was just a person in a robot suit:

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/elon-musk-tesla-robot-optimus-ai

Now, Musk has announced that his junk-science neural interface company, Neuralink, has made the leap to implanting neural interface chips in a human brain. As Joan Westenberg writes, the press have repeated this claim as presumptively true, despite its wild implausibility:

https://joanwestenberg.com/blog/elon-musk-lies

Neuralink, after all, is a company notorious for mutilating primates in pursuit of showy, meaningless demos:

https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-pcrm-neuralink-monkey-deaths/

I'm perfectly willing to believe that Musk would risk someone else's life to help him with this nonsense, because he doesn't see other people as real and deserving of compassion or empathy. But he's also profoundly lazy and is accustomed to a world that unquestioningly swallows his most outlandish pronouncements, so Occam's Razor dictates that the most likely explanation here is that he just made it up.

The odds that there's a human being beta-testing Musk's neural interface with the only brain they will ever have aren't zero. But I give it the same odds as the Raelians' claim to have cloned a human being:

https://edition.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/03/cf.opinion.rael/

The human-in-a-robot-suit gambit is everywhere in AI hype. Cruise, GM's disgraced "robot taxi" company, had 1.5 remote operators for every one of the cars on the road. They used AI to replace a single, low-waged driver with 1.5 high-waged, specialized technicians. Truly, it was a marvel.

Globalization is key to maintaining the guy-in-a-robot-suit phenomenon. Globalization gives AI pitchmen access to millions of low-waged workers who can pretend to be software programs, allowing us to pretend to have transcended the capitalism's exploitation trap. This is also a very old pattern – just a couple decades after the Mechanical Turk toured Europe, Thomas Jefferson returned from the continent with the dumbwaiter. Jefferson refined and installed these marvels, announcing to his dinner guests that they allowed him to replace his "servants" (that is, his slaves). Dumbwaiters don't replace slaves, of course – they just keep them out of sight:

https://www.stuartmcmillen.com/blog/behind-the-dumbwaiter/

So much AI turns out to be low-waged people in a call center in the Global South pretending to be robots that Indian techies have a joke about it: "AI stands for 'absent Indian'":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/29/pay-no-attention/#to-the-little-man-behind-the-curtain

A reader wrote to me this week. They're a multi-decade veteran of Amazon who had a fascinating tale about the launch of Amazon Go, the "fully automated" Amazon retail outlets that let you wander around, pick up goods and walk out again, while AI-enabled cameras totted up the goods in your basket and charged your card for them.

According to this reader, the AI cameras didn't work any better than Tesla's full-self driving mode, and had to be backstopped by a minimum of three camera operators in an Indian call center, "so that there could be a quorum system for deciding on a customer's activity – three autopilots good, two autopilots bad."

Amazon got a ton of press from the launch of the Amazon Go stores. A lot of it was very favorable, of course: Mister Market is insatiably horny for firing human beings and replacing them with robots, so any announcement that you've got a human-replacing robot is a surefire way to make Line Go Up. But there was also plenty of critical press about this – pieces that took Amazon to task for replacing human beings with robots.

What was missing from the criticism? Articles that said that Amazon was probably lying about its robots, that it had replaced low-waged clerks in the USA with even-lower-waged camera-jockeys in India.

Which is a shame, because that criticism would have hit Amazon where it hurts, right there in the ole Line Go Up. Amazon's stock price boost off the back of the Amazon Go announcements represented the market's bet that Amazon would evert out of cyberspace and fill all of our physical retail corridors with monopolistic robot stores, moated with IP that prevented other retailers from similarly slashing their wage bills. That unbridgeable moat would guarantee Amazon generations of monopoly rents, which it would share with any shareholders who piled into the stock at that moment.

See the difference? Criticize Amazon for its devastatingly effective automation and you help Amazon sell stock to suckers, which makes Amazon executives richer. Criticize Amazon for lying about its automation, and you clobber the personal net worth of the executives who spun up this lie, because their portfolios are full of Amazon stock:

https://sts-news.medium.com/youre-doing-it-wrong-notes-on-criticism-and-technology-hype-18b08b4307e5

Amazon Go didn't go. The hundreds of Amazon Go stores we were promised never materialized. There's an embarrassing rump of 25 of these things still around, which will doubtless be quietly shuttered in the years to come. But Amazon Go wasn't a failure. It allowed its architects to pocket massive capital gains on the way to building generational wealth and establishing a new permanent aristocracy of habitual bullshitters dressed up as high-tech wizards.

"Wizard" is the right word for it. The high-tech sector pretends to be science fiction, but it's usually fantasy. For a generation, America's largest tech firms peddled the dream of imminently establishing colonies on distant worlds or even traveling to other solar systems, something that is still so far in our future that it might well never come to pass:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/09/astrobezzle/#send-robots-instead

During the Space Age, we got the same kind of performative bullshit. On The Well David Gans mentioned hearing a promo on SiriusXM for a radio show with "the first AI co-host." To this, Craig L Maudlin replied, "Reminds me of fins on automobiles."

Yup, that's exactly it. An AI radio co-host is to artificial intelligence as a Cadillac Eldorado Biaritz tail-fin is to interstellar rocketry.

Back the Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle here!

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/31/neural-interface-beta-tester/#tailfins

[aethelwyneleigh27]

A little something of Simon Riley x Bookworm!Reader

A/n: Did you guys miss this format? So do I, hope you guys are doing well because I would not wish my suffering on my worst enemy, for the first time in a while, school makes me want to self exit. These days have been the busiest for me and I doubt that it will get better from here. I'm just exhausted from life but never from you guys <3

Taglist: @wishesforyou @puff0o0 @simping4konig @simp4konig @blingblong55 @azereus @rustic-guitar-notes @callsignsnowpunisher @anonymuslydumb @skeletalgoats @icarustypicalfall @connorsui @capuccino192 @miss-gms-and-the-rotten-womb @celestialhole @the-second-sage @starryylies @duck-a-doodle @everlastingmoonlightsworld @keiva1000 @iexiam @drewsmusee @konigceo

My CoD Masterlist <3

My Simon "Ghost" Riley Playlist <3

Simon Riley who absolutely adores your reactions when you read, a little bored on a lazy day in bed with him with your reading material in hand. The way you squeal and wiggle your feet made him want to peek onto what you were reading but he didn't need to, the moment you notice him curiously trail on you when you've finished a chapter or a moment you can't help but rant about.

Simon Riley who absolutely adores the way you get passionate about romantic stories, sometimes it motivates him to get a little creative with date ideas although you insist that simple dates are just fine.

Simon Riley who loves sneaking up behind you to peek at what you're reading, to see if you hide it while all flustered or if you bolt so he could playfully chase and pin you down.

Simon Riley who actually picks up an interest in reading because of you, he loved the idea that he's able to be more connected to you, having heated sessions of ranting together, dissing on annoying characters and such.

Simon Riley who was thankful you for introducing him to audiobooks, he was usually busy with some of the repairing and some maintenance of your shared home whenever he comes home after months. It gives him time to catch up while doing something productive so you can have your book review sessions.

Simon Riley who likes it when you look for him in the house after he went to do chores while you immerse yourself in another world. The sound of his name being called over and over by you is the best to him, sometimes waiting for you to say his name a little more before responding.

Simon Riley who builds you your very own bookshelf at your third anniversary, he went through the effort of finding a wood color that he knew you'd like and crafted the intricate bookshelf with a matching ladder that had wheels at the bottom so you could slide down like belle in that scene from beauty and the beast.

Simon Riley who gifts you reading material that you told him you were dying to read, your birthdays and other special occasions, even merch of hyper fixations you have, the same ones you use to decorate the bookshelf he made.

Simon Riley who likes to experiment in the bedroom based on what you've noted and annotated scenes on the spicy romance novels you've kept. He does it in his absolute spare time, sometimes when you aren't home, he likes to see what turns you on, so you'll come home to a surprise.

[utilitycaster]

Hi! I'm soon (finally!) starting a Netherdeep campaign with my lovely friends. This is my second time DMing, but character work is not my strong suit. Any suggestions as a fellow Netherdeep DM for preparing how to roleplay the rivals? I thought of writing out fanfic style how they (the rivals) would adventure through the module, and writing out dialogue/party banter to get a feel for them, but I'd love to hear from you as a more seasoned DM on how you approach this kind of challenge. Thanks for your time!

I hesitate to say character work is MY strong suit either but I do think about the rivals a lot! so:

Read through the full adventure if you haven't as it does cover the rivals' arcs. I will warn you that my main criticism of Netherdeep is that there's a few assumptions it makes regarding what you and what the rivals will do, especially in Bazzoxan and in choosing factions in Ank'Harel. [btw: I did not have the rivals ally with Consortium of the Vermillion Dream despite my party allying with the Cobalt Soul because frankly based on how Bazzoxan went down it made no sense, and I'm happy to talk through how I've set them up with the Allegiance of Allsight. I think if your party chooses the Allegiance of Allsight it might be trickier due to the nature of the Cobalt Soul and the arcs of the rivals; you may want to have them join the Vermillion Dream with a goal of infiltration.] So while I think you should maintain the emotional arcs, you need to be flexible regarding the exact factors involved.

I think the book does cover what interests and drives the rivals, and that's very helpful. Honestly, the most basic advice of "know overall what this character is running from and what they are running to, and also what they want and fear in the short term" is pretty much how I play NPCs. This is also way easier than writing fanfic.

With that said: if you do want to write out their side of the story I think that's great - essentially, yeah, I do at least vaguely have a sense of what's going on for them and if making it more concrete will help you, go for it. My only warning is don't go ahead because they will be shaped by how your players interact with them - I expected my players to be super into Ayo and Dermot, and instead we've had a LOT of Maggie and some important Irvan stuff (my fighter has some really interesting parallels with both of them) and some fun Galsariad drama too (because we also have a snobby wizard in the party). Also, real talk, if someone does a rivals POV fic for a full netherdeep campaign in this manner I would 100% read that.

I don't know how helpful this is. I will admit I have a bit of a Spenser Starke problem in that like...while GM-ing while I do not per se black out it's kind of just pure improv instinct and vibes for how characters react. I am also ngl a little bit lazy and drunk off the power of the module being already written so I'm like "oh i don't need to prepare as extensively? GREAT."

[fuck-customers]

(🐎 anon) This a fuck coworkers thing. Fuck this one specific coworker.

This dude is almost useless as a worker. He takes forever to take out the trash (even when the shift manager already gathered it and literally all he has to do is walk it out to the Dumpster. She said it still took him about an hour to do. He doesn't drain all the grease off the bacon, which means the pans are ten times messier than normal, making more work for the dish washer (me). He leaves parts of the paper the bacon is cooked on stuck to the pan. Today he burned an entire pan of bacon black AND JUST LEFT IT ON THE PAN WHEN HE PUT THE PAN WITH THE DIRTY DISHES (the person doing the bacon is supposed to remove the paper and throw it in a trash can RIGHT NEXT to where the bacon is cut). But that isn't even the worst part.

This dude never shuts up and he is LOUD. And everything he says is stupid, offensive, inappropriate, or some combo of those. He talks about women like they're objects and what kinds he likes (big white girls. We had an employee who fit that description and he made her VERY uncomfortable. And he is MARRIED), and everyone knows he doesn't like listening to women (so why are you working at a place where all but one of the managers, most of the crew, and the GM are women?). He is also shamelessly homophobic, saying things like "i used to like that song, but then I found out [the artist] was gay." And his excuse for this shit is always "Well, I went to church...." (the church of being a total dick?)

But they probably won't fire him because if they did, he'd say they did it because he's black and not because he's a lazy homophobic misogynist piece of shit asshole (we have two black managers, dude, and several Hispanic people on staff, along with at least one other black person. Try something else.)

Just......fuck this dickwad guy.

Posted by admin Rodney.

[randomnameless]

Well, looks like even a broken clock's right at least twice a day; an edelstan on twitter was pissed a few days ago when they saw that Cyril's Meet the Heroes description described his time “working” for House Goneril as “some odd twists and turns”, pointing out that such vague wording was most likely used due to a combination of 3H not caring about Cyril's backstory and IS needing to sanitize Hilda's image so she can sell better in Heroes.

Hahaha,

It's funny because on SPE some people made memes, and you have angry people in the comments, being angry and basically lying or making up facts to either diminish Cyril's uh, "working conditions" in House Goneril, or try to sweep it under the rug to give some "Rhea BaD" takes again

Like :

(meme where Claude doesn't criticise his allies for keeping slaves, but blame racism on the lady who saved the child slave)

"Faerghus is the most violent country because they killed the emperor and enacted a coup while being backed up by mole people" to talk about that time when Loog got his independance

"Rhea BaD bcs Cyril can't learn how to read if you don't support him with Lysithea" even if he writes in the Post TS regardless of recruiting Lysithea or not

"Claude tries to talk to Cyril out of fighting but Cyril drives to a suicide charge with Rhea's blessing so Rhea BaD" in GW, with the source being, idk, since the person who came with that take never sourced it

"Rhea BaD she used the regicide in Faerghus to get rid of her political enemies" you mean the dude who tried to kill her?

"Supreme Leader wouldn't be able to continue warring if Rhea DeD bcs else she would be invading people and would lose public support" like the Supreme Leader? From the land of MAGA? Lose public support?? If she invades nations to restore Adrestia to its glorious past???

"Cyril never said he wasn't eating well in house Goneril" but the JP line says he was always hungry in PAlmyra and Fodlan before coming to the Monastery...

Anyways, as expected, even if FEH tries to sanitise some of Fe Fodlan's most, uh, contentious points, we will always have discourse because some people just prefer their fanon to canon, and while I can understand them to a degree (look Willy is basically fanon at this point) it's always hilarious to see people refuse to engage or even consider that the game they "love" says X when they prefer Y.

When it comes to, in general, Church related characters or Kingdom related characters, we see a lot of discourse like this popping up because while FE Fodlan shat on them (to an extent, for the Church related characters) FEH has to give them the minimum spotlight they give to other characters of the franchise, so yes, Hilda's popularity most likely is the reason why Cyril in MYH just had some "odd twists and turns" (tfw Begnion Senators aren't as popular :( so Muarim was mentionned to have been a slave) but his voiced lines has him mention he was captured as a "war prisoner"...

Putting everything it adds up and we have : Cyril was captured as a war prisoner when he was 11-12 by the Gonerils, was hungry there, complained about "work being hard" there (when Cyril doesn't complain at all in GM despite the huge workload he has!), and implies to Mercedes to have been mistreated in House Goneril because he was Almyran (which matches Hilda's prejudices in her C support about Almyrans).

Why is Cyril's backstory so "discourse rising" then?

Is it because Rhea BaD cannot rescue a child from slavery from a popular character's family/household? Or because Hilda's laziness and preference to let other people do her chores looks especially wrong if we take into consideration that those "other people doing her chores" at home might be children "kept as prisoner of wars and fed twice per week"? Or because it reflects badly on Claude (in both games) who wants to end discriminations and prejudices by getting rid of the institution that rescued an abused child, while working hand in hand with the family that abused said child based on his origins?

(lol@the "but Faerghus BaD" bonus point in the earlier SPE thread I mention, I don't even understand why it was brought up lol)

Back to your post, it's hilarious how this edelstand was pissed becayse FEH whitewashed Cyril's backstory to maybe sell more Hilda alts, when Pat'n'pals try their hardest (in FE16, Nopes and even FEH!) to "alter the script" to shit on Rhea, Dimitri to make Supreme Leader alt'able.

Maybe there's hope for this twitter/X stan?

[arkham-outskirts]

PAPER CHASE

! SPOILERS for the scenario contained within the Call of Cthulhu: Starter Kit, Paper Chase !

Below the cut will be various out of context quotes, summaries and art relating to our very first gaming session/scenario!

Also, I will warn: There's a bit more suggestive humor in this campaign then Alone Against the Flames...

GM/Keeper: @jackgiggles Player 1, Nadine Greenwald: @thevioletscout Player 2, Louis Milch: @atorchzagreusandtris

Pre-Game Stuff

Jack: I cannot wait to show you guys, each others characters *laughing in "what we have done"*

(Talking about the fact we didn't know what Louis looked like yet, compared to knowing TOO MUCH about Pepper) Scout: I got something, Very out of pocket. Scout: Tri, are you okay with this? Tri: Yes. Scout: It's not like I've seen, with my own eyes, Jack gave Pepper a big dick.

Jack, putting Pepper's ref in chat: This is the boy. Tri: Oh he's nice! Jack: Yea, he's nice ^^ Tri: Nice with uhh, a big ding dong. Jack: -whEEZE-

---

Jack: So Tri, do you want to explain to Scout, who your character is? Tri: I'll take a hard boiled egg, why not. Uhhhh *laughing* Tri: SO! This all kinda started as a joke, because the first thing I came up with; Is my character was going to be a Milkman. Scout: .... Alright. Tri: BUT- But it gets *can't stop laughing* Jack and Tri: *dying, can't speak* Tri: His entire thing, revolves around M i l k. His last name is Milch, Jack: German for Milk Tri: -yeah, and his name, Louis, comes from the guy who invented pasteurized milk.

Tri: BUT THE COMPANY- what did we call it?? Mommy milk-? Jack, dying: MILLA or something?? -My dogs are barking in the background- Jack and Tri: MOMMY MILLA MILK COMPANY

Tri: And his dad disappeared to go get milk, and that's why he chose his profession! Jack: I'm getting the meme I made of him.

Scout, realizing what the fuck we did: WHAT THE HELL??? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN??

---

And Louis is also apart of underground fighting rings, alike boxing, for extra money on the side.

Scout: Alright.............. I think I heard enough.

---

Scout, introducing her character: My character is Nadine Greenwald, she's a dancer at a Speakeasy. And uh, small town girl trying to make it big in the city! Tri: Oh, sweet! Scout: She likes to believe ignorance is bliss, but can't ignore when someone needs help.

---

Nice and calm introduction.

---

Jack: So Scout has the serious character, and Tri is bringing the memes. And we love it. Tri: THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS!!

---

Now Starting... The Actual Campaign

---

It is 1929, July when Nadine Greenwald and Louis Milch are contacted by Thomas Kimball, a resident in a small, overgrown town down south from Arkham City called Windleigh. He deemed them the most trustworthy individuals to handle a case due to a quiet town having a lazy sheriff who was no help for a strange theft.

---

GM(Jack): Tri- or Louis, you are very well familiar with the place because it's on your track to... deliver your milk. Louis(Tri): *laugh* GM: You're familiar with the neighborhood, and recognize the new face of Thomas who moved in recently after the passing of his uncle, Douglas Kimball.

---

The town is very overgrown and clearly, it's dying out with the passing years. Most residents are elderly. The Kimball Residence is pretty rundown, and full of moving boxes and such messes expected from such a move.

Thomas goes on to invite them in, and explain what had happened.

"You see, I went into my uncle's study this morning and saw that the window was opened, and some books were clearly missing. History textbooks, some novels- I don't know what specifically, since the library isn't all that well organized. But the sheriff was no help, and while there were footprints they were so muddled in the investigation from sloppy work they're of no use.

"And, they wound up causing more trouble then what was worth calling them for, as they broke one of my statues..."

---

Nadine (Scout), ooc: This is a weird question, but does he still have the statue? Thomas, (GM): I put it in a box, I think I can get it fixed. It's just one of my own...... cat states. It- it was my grandmothers, you see? Nadine, trying to see if it was lore related: O h

---

Thomas asks them to find clues as to who taken them, and for what purpose. Then, he tacts on basically an optional mission for questions he never really had the chance to be answered.

---

Thomas: It's perhaps foolish, but- if you could find anything of my uncle, it would be appreciated.

Nadine: Do you have any ideas of suspects? Thomas: Hmm... I'm not quite sure. I've only been here for a month, and the only one to cross me was that damn Sheriff. Everyone else, was pleasant... from what I've seen.

---

Thomas lends rooming for the two while they stay and investigate around Windleigh, since he wasn't going to force the two to pay for housing doing a job for him!

---

GM: You can tell Thomas is more of a secluded, artsy kinda person. Not great with social interactions... GM: This is also me being very awkward about roleplaying someone! *laughter* GM: I have also joked that this is Thomas eyeing the man. Louis, ooc: OH okay! I get it!

---

Nadine: She like, offers a comforting hand on his shoulder. Louis: Louis- he offers the man a bottle of milk. Thomas: UH no- no thanks, I am rather lactose intolerant! Louis, ooc: He mistook the eyeing as "He wants some milk!" GM: Oh a himbo, Thomas has his work cut out for him! Nadine, ooc: *head in hands* Oh god, it's Pepper and Jo all over again.

---

Nadine, to the rescue: SO could you tell us more about the missing books? Thomas, ooc: Thomas is VERY glad for the change of topic, and goes on to explain what is in the library!

---

Nadine and Louis first start investigating the library-study, mostly full of historical documents, texts and random novels. However, they do see a few more... unusual books, with strange covers. They are occult, as Douglas was a man who taught at Miskatonic University.

Unfortunately, neither recognize any of the tomes. However, due to Nadine's work in Arkham, she knew there were odd subjects and ideas circling the cities University, so it wasn't too unusual for a professor to have such texts.

Louis goes to investigate the window, of which is cracked open. Dust was unsettled, showing it wasn't opened often. Thus being the point of entry. And- dried mud or dirt around the windowsill. Like someone climbed in.

Upon a spot hidden, they search around and discover a handwritten dairy. It was very cursive handwriting, obviously belonging to Douglas Kimball. As they flip through it, they take notice of the fact the quality of the handwriting and grammar dramatically decreasing as it goes on. Such a thing being concerning, for a retired professor.

---

Scout: I'm gonna go turn my light on, it's getting dark out Jack, reading notes: Hehe ~Spooky~

---

Douglas' journal mentions something about "making a decision", "joining my friends below" and something about a "creature".

---

Louis: Probably a possum or somethin' -laughter- Nadine, ooc: I'm curious, what is his Intelligence stat? Louis, ooc: .... GM: I will say, you made him strong and charming, but he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. Louis, ooc: His Intelligence is 50 and 40 Education. Nadine, ooc: Nadine's not much better, she has 55 in both. Very pretty, but not very bright. GM: Himbo and bimbo.

---

Louis: I don't think it could be an older person that climbed through a window. Nadine: You'd be surprise, but I'm not pinning suspects yet.

---

They ask around Windleigh, and run across an elderly man who kinda fills in about Douglas and the Kimball family. He explains Douglas was more of a reclusive person in town, always reading. So nobody really knew the Kimballs, but the kid...

Small Girl: He's just really weird! He gave me a bad feeling, especially recently... Nadine: .... What do you mean by that? Small girl: I don't know, he's just weird! He's always on his own, at the graveyard! Who does that?? Louis: Uhh yeah-

The old man patted the girl on the head, and kinda shrugged it off while slightly scolding the girl, "Abigail, that is rude, you can't just call people weird." and excuses himself.

---

GM: If you would like to talk to the older, glamorous lady, make a Appearance or Credit Rating roll. Nadine, ooc: Nadine has a... 60 in appearance. Louis, ooc: Mine's a 70! GM: Alright, roll!

Louis, ooc: 90 Nadine, ooc: 75, I'm over. GM: R i g h t, so the lady- Lady O’Dell, does not want to hear what you have to say. And kinda- uses her parasol to kinda shy away from you and block sight like "Ohhh no, please go!" Louis, ooc: -whEEZE- Alright, to the graveyard then!

---

Lady O'Dell smelled the poor on them.

---

GM: The graveyard is behind the Kimball home, and kinda uphill with a lot of overgrown roots along the cobblestone. Nadine, ooc: Nadine is wearing h e e l s GM: oof, yeah good luck Nadine Louis, ooc: And Louis is carrying his- bucket of milk. Nadine: Not gonna help a lady, got it!

GM: and there are a bunch of... uhhh. What are those buildings that hold like, urns n stuff? Louis, ooc: Uhh I wanna say mausoleums-?? Or- GM: Mausoleums! Louis: Ah, yeah!

---

The gaveyard is very old, with stone overgrown and worn down. There didn't seem to be much room left for anyone else to be buried.

There is the graveyard keeper, a very old and grouchy old man. His hair was once red, but now greyed at his temples and roots. He was very haggard.

---

GM: Roll for Charm, or which ever is highest. Cause he's grouchy. Nadine, ooc: I got 91, I'm shit outta luck.

---

Louis however passes his charm roll, so he walks up to the caretaker, Jefferson. Louis being his usual charming milkman self, manages to bring out the better parts of Jefferson to ask about what he might know about the Kimball House. Jefferson appears as if he's familiar with the place.

And it's shown, he's actually quite friendly with Douglas. Probably kindred spirits in a way, being a grouchy groundskeeper and a reclusive bookworm.

---

Jefferson (GM): It's unfortunate, the house is- has been gone off- in a- for an- in- *sputters* GM: I'm having a stroke.

---

Jefferson divulges in the fact they enjoyed each other presence, and talked very casually. A nice, calm friendship between two old guys. Plants, the weather, all those sorts of things.

---

Jefferson: And it's strange, Douglas always had this strange... fascination, or draw, with this one tombstone. Nadine and Louis: Hmmm... Jefferson: He'd always go there to read.

Nadine: Where is this tombstone? Jefferson: Oh, its one of the oldest ones nearby the mausoleum, the first one. Actually pretty close to the Kimball House.

---

Louis thanks Jefferson for the information, though it's noted that Jefferson seems to grow more anxious- and glancing towards the shadows, edging away from them.

---

Nadine, occ: I got 25, and my spot hidden is 35. Perspective gal! ... So far.

---

Nadine eventually notices that while Jefferson is trying to edge out of the conversation, being kinda twitchy, she notices there's an odd shape in his coat. Looking at his pocket, she could see the glimmer of a brown bottle. (Booze)

---

Nadine, ooc: I guess he's drinking...? GM: Note, prohibition is still in effect. Nadine, ooc: Nadine could give Less of a shit, she works in a speakeasy!

---

Nadine doesn't mention it, given the fact they had some sort of lead.

---

Louis, ooc: Of course, because it's customary for Louis, he offers Jefferson a bottle of milk. GM: -wheezing- Jefferson waves him away, "No, no- we got some already- thanks"

---

GM: I will say- you should continue with graveyard later. Because there's plenty of stuff to see Before then. GM: I learned this with my parents, who finished this EARLY.

---

Nadine, ooc: That tombstone ain't goin' anywhere. Louis, ooc: Watch us be Wrong. -laughter-

---

*they agree to go to the library next* Louis, ooc: Time to go read books!

GM: Also I will shoehorn you into every location, cause I am proud of them.

---

Louis is rather familiar with Windleigh, and it's a very small town so they find the Library easily. The library is quite small, one story and perhaps just 3 rooms maximum. It's ran by one person at the moment, a petite blonde woman, who's hair is actually white is so blonde.

---

Louis: We're looking for some recently donated books? Librarian [GM]: Ohh, we hadn't had anything new. We've been told from Thomas we might receive some of of his uncle's old collection, but nothing yet, I'm afraid.

Nadine, ooc: I got a 42- Nadine doesn't go to the library often. GM: Nope, apparently not. Louis, ooc: 20 percent... and I rolled a 6. GM: A 6?? Damn-

---

Either by shear luck or divine intervention, Louis finds an old newspaper article, badly damaged and from roughly 10 years ago. Very odd for it's condition- faded and hard to read.

(Here's to my first handmade handout.)

---

GM: You can't really tell much else, besides that it was printed by the Arkham Gazette.

---

Nadine, ooc: Maybe I'm- peeking over his Very broad shoulders. -laughter-

Louis, ooc: He's like- average height? GM: Like, 5'10. But he's very broad. Louis, ooc: He's VERY Broad. GM: A broad, if you will.

---

The librarian kinda freaks out when they picked it up, saying that the place was just very unkempt by the previous owner for whatever reason, and it was very delicate. She then informs them that, as she takes it away, if they're looking for a more intact copy there might be one at the Arkham Gazette.

Librarian: I have a cousin who works there, he'd be most glad to let you look around. Nadine, ooc, realizing: Ohhhh I know who this woman is. GM: heh, snow white hair?

Debra: I'm Debra Snow, if you give a man "Jo Winters" my name, I'm sure he'll let you investigate. 'cause he's more nosy then he should be about this kind of stuff.

---

Nadine tried rolling for Psychology to see if she could trust her, and upon failing decided to just go for it and explained why they were looking into things, about the break-in and the books.

Debra is surprised, and mentions she's met the man once since moving to Windleigh. That Douglas was only announced dead because there was zero trace.

---

Nadine: That's certainly unfortunate... Louis: Yes, indeed......... Would you like some milk?? -LAUGHTER- GM: Debra is taken aback, and goes ".... UHH. SURE??"

Nadine, ooc: She likes gets behind him, and mouths to her "sorry, he does this all the time"

---

Quick intermission, but there was discussion of how Louis and Nadine knew each other, since they really easily slipped into a dynamic like casual friendship. Likely just Louis delivering and they talked enough to have bonded.

---

Nadine: I guess uh- I'm kinda interested in going back to Arkham to check out the Gazette. Louis: I would sugge- *discord cuts out on Scout's end* Nadine, ooc: .... Tri where'd you go??

---

Louis, ooc: Hop into my milk van!

---

GM: Every time I say Arkham, I just think- Batman. Louis, ooc: SAME-

---

Part 2: [LINK]

[hopefulstarfire]

The dnd gang and dice

Ryou: Has his main set of dice he uses for all his GM needs that were a custom order. He also picks up some random dice sets here and there for new players because he likes helping them and it's just a nice little gift. He got a dice tower for his birthday and now he uses it for all his own personal rolls, and it's tall so it peaks out from his little gm board.

Bakura: If they actually let him play (he lost gm rights for a REASON), he has a couple of dice sets he got as gifts. His rolls are always very forcefully and they slam against the table and he is not afraid to cuss out his dice. Still tries to play things stylishly and he always gets the biggest smirk whenever he gets a nat 20.

Kat: My ideal va for Kat is Laura Bailey. And when it comes to her dice, she's a lot like Laura. Hoards a shit ton of dice. Does actually cuss out her dice when she gets a nat 1 and she has her own version of dice jail. She keeps them all in some kind of designer bag. Has a cute little custom dice tray with roses on it.

Miho: Has the cutest aesthetic dice you can find. She gets super excited over finding the ones with the little inclusions like flowers or frogs. Everything is super glittery. Always excitedly whispers "come on, give me a nat 20, let's go!!" And rolls them with so much enthusiasm. Shares custody of the dice jail with Kat. Has a cute dice tray that matches her aesthetic.

Tomoya: Has a couple sets, but primarily uses the dice set Duke made for him that's Zombyre inspired and it's his favorite thing. Gentle rolls with no dice tray and always has take a second to do the math on his modifiers but is always the first one to jump up whenever he or one of the others get a nat 20. Gets super crestfallen when it's a nat 1.

Duke: Okay but let's be real Duke handmakes a shit ton of dice. He already oversees dice production for Dungeon Dice Monsters, he might as well make his own custom dice sets. He's very detailed in making them perfectly balanced and they're peak 2000s alternative aesthetic. Rolls his dice and announces what he rolled + modifiers very dramatically and with Style. If he's feeling lazy he literally shakes his dice tray.

[rattytaffy]

About the RattyTaffy

Hi I am RattyTaffy, you can call me Ratty or Taffy for short.

This is a fresh blog but i have been around Tumblr since like 2012!

I'm 30, They/Them. Genderfluid & Abrosexual. Autistic and Schizophrenic. Also Dyslexic. Disabled Stoner

I write a lot but haven't posted anything to the net before this point. This blog is mostly for my fandom stuff but i might post the crafts i do from time to time.

I love getting asks and ranting about fandom stuff, science stuff, and the literary analysis of video games. I also love table top games but do not like D&D as a system. I am a forever GM who can and will make there own homebrew system for shits and giggles. Word of warning I cuss a lot and my spelling is horrid.

Also i cant tag worth shit so feel free to tell me if you want a TW or CW tag to a post.

Fics I'm Writing Old Habits Die Hard - Fnaf and Fallout crossover AU Sun & Moon x reader. Info post Tag #OHDH

Fandoms My little pony (all gens) Fnaf (mostly security breech lately) Fallout (there are more but i'm lazy) Crafts Scrapbooking / junk journals Knitting & crotchet (fuckin love color work) Sewing (plushy making mostly) Embroidery

Tags RattyArt = My art RattyWriting = my writing CraftyRat = Physical crafts i have made

Thank you for reading! Ratty hugs to you all!

=^.^= SQUEAK

[twenty-words-or-less]

Top 5 Worst Films of 2019

It's been a while since I gave you something from the vault, so you can have something, as a little treat. Best of 2019 and Best & Worst of 2021 to be interspersed throughout the next few posts.

IMPORTANT: There will more than likely be spoilers, because I do not respect these films enough to calmly articulate my feelings for them. Also there is way more swearing in this post.

5. Glass

It is a second sequel that shat on the second wind Shyamalan had after Split. David Dunn suffered an undignified death in a puddle and Dr. Staple is a member of an evil organisation that suppresses the existence of superheroes. The latter comes out of fucking NOWHERE and does NOTHING for the film, let alone the trilogy as a whole. Also, the last act is lifeless and I haven't felt this patronised by a film since 2017's Ingrid Goes West.

4. Hellboy

The 2004 movie is in my all-time top 10. This 2019 disaster of a multi-genre whiplash didn't have a chance from the off. Everyone was wasted in this, actors AND the musicians who contributed to the soundtrack. It was lazy, it was unnecessary, and the post credits scene - namely, them finding Abe Sapien - was so optimistic about having a sequel, it was cute. I'm glad it bombed. Hard.

3. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Yep, the one I saw just yesterday. Whilst I wanted Kylo Ren to fucking die, the film also fucking made Reylo canon immediately before, which is the one thing I didn't want them to do. It's soulless, it relies too much on the original trilogy, it's too long for its own good, and oh my fuck is it a elevator plummet in general from TFA. And yeah, I know 'elevator' is American. In this case, it's more effective than 'lift'.

2. The Goldfinch

Proof that a film being based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel does not make it good. Every scene felt disconnected from the previous one, the plot likes to pop in for a cuppa every now and then, and it has more endings than a clitoris, none of which are anywhere near as pleasurable. Also, dear Hollywood: please stop giving Ansel Elgort work. Thanks.

Dishonourable mentions:

The Intruder: not as rage-inducing as the top five entries here, but still pretty crap. The character motivation is weak as hell and is never explained in a reasonable way.

Ma: Tries to be a hybrid of Carrie and Misery, fails at being both, can just wastes Octavia Spencer (and Diana Silvers, coincidentally in Booksmart).

Annabelle Comes Home: Straight up fucking boring. The best characters are only in it for about 9 seconds (proportionally speaking). Not much else I can say on that front.

And finally, the worst film I have seen this year...

1. Burning

Oh fuck me, where do I begin?This film is based on a short story, and at 2.5hrs is about 45mins-1hr too long for its origins. The protagonist is a gormless moron (GM), the love interest is a wet blanket (WB) and the third party is basically a Korean Gatsby (KG). WB disappears, and the film makes it out to be like KG didn't murder her (which he did, movie). The film treats us like we're stupid, some shots go on for far too long, there is no plot AT FUCKING ALL, and worst of all, I didn't care about the protagonists. GM wanks in WB's empty flat and then pretends to be sad when WB goes missing. GM also stabs the shit out of KG to death at the end of the film, and honestly, I wanted to jump into the film and stab the shit out of GM himself. [REDACTED] put this as their 2nd worst film of the year, and as much as I love them, 2nd place is far too generous. Foreign language films do not get a theatrical release in the UK very often, so this was an insult on multiple levels. I wanted to like this film, I did, and I want to know more about Korean cinema beyond I Saw The Devil, but this burned me in that respect and I do not understand the praise it got from critics. Fuck this film. Fuck it to the depths of hell and back. And fuck you, whoever decided to give this a theatrical release in the UK, for that decision. I hope that you will be forever tormented by mice living in your walls that eat your food and cannot be removed, no matter what. Fuck. You.

Thanks again for reading, and happy New Year, everyone! See you soon! Hopefully for a year that is better for films than this one! ❤

~Mikey

[iceblastersdenofstuff]

My fallout 2d20 books came in earlier last week.

It’s a fun implementation of Modiphius’ 2d20 system. I would say it kinda feels lazy in that it only officially covers the Fallout 4 stuff, BUT. It’s still fun. I definitely say it’s better ou the box than any fan made fallout system imo.

I’ve not ran it yet, but my read of the Winter of Atom book tells me it sounds like THE Book to run the game with if you aren’t a big homebrew GM. It’s got faction stuff, expanded travel rules, vehicles, and at least insofar as I think a decent plot!

Plus. It takes place distinctly before fallout 4, like 50 years iirc? So you don’t need to really worry about the events of said game.

[gaysonlyocean]

fun fact; for my lazy eye, I was recommended surgery (twice, both times it did NOT work and actually made it worse but irrelevant) and according to both parents on the ride home I apparently just started crying blood at some point and I think that's very Dave Lee of me

also it's like 5am good morning (I haven't slept) how are you -defnotadam

in your dave lee era

gm! please go to bed??? im in pain cause most of my bones decided to hurt when i woke up but otherwise fine :]

[qichin]

Core Mechanic

Many games tend to revolve around a specific theme, be it a genre, a feeling, a question, or a specific experience. And games being a collection of interconnected mechanics, one of these (or perhaps a small number) might end up as the core mechanic (CM) to promote engagement with this theme.

A CM can literally be a mechanic, or it could be a gameplay element, or perhaps a process within the game. Something the rest of the mechanical design revolves around and drives player engagement with it in a specific way. It might encourage player actions or force players to make certain considerations in tune with the theme, thereby reinforcing it within the play experience.

Quick aside: the CM is not the core resolution mechanic (CRM), which is the main method the game uses to randomize outcomes. The CRM can be related, but often, the CRM is separate from and in service to the CM.

This makes the CM a powerful tool when implemented right, but like any tool, it can be misused. A game might have a certain theme, but no CM to support it. It might have a CM supporting a different theme than the one intended or claimed to be the design goal. Or it might have so many other (complex) mechanics around a CM that it gets diluted.

Let's look at the example of D&D and what I believe to be the CM of that game: Hit points.

First, lots of mechanics are tied to it. They either reduce hp (or support actions that do), help prevent hp loss, heal hp etc. These mechanics include such varied things as gear, character abilities, spells, GM tools (traps, monsters), the entire process of combat, resting, contingency mechanics (death saves) and so on. It's also one of the consistent rewards for getting stronger.

It also informs gameplay decisions. Playing to the mechanics influences anything from party composition (needing a breaker) to character builds to moment-to-moment choices.

In theory, it also helps shape rising and falling tension throughout the game, with a fresh party on full hp being able to take more risks and a party on low hp needing to be more careful. The fact that the long rest problem (where parties rest to fully heal overly frequently to maximize freshness, made possible by a lack of built-in mechanical restrictions or limits on long rests) is such an issue is directly tied to its effect on hp as a pacing tool.

Other examples would be aspects and fate points in Fate, inventory slots in Mausritter, Endurance in The One Ring, Madness in Don't Rest Your Head.

But Qichin, you might say, loads of games use hit points. Does that mean they all have the same core mechanic?

Well, that depends. Remember, hit points are just a tool. How central are hp to supporting the main theme of the game? Super Mario 64 uses hit points to differentiate between instantly lethal and partially lethal obstacles, but the main theme is still movement, platforming, and overcoming/avoiding said obstacles in general.

But recall also what I said earlier about misaimed design. Hit points are a simple tool to implement, and many games use them, so why shouldn't yours? But that might lead to a different CM taking precedence in your game, and a new theme to emerge beside the one you intended. This can be a consequence of lazy design (using hp because everyone else uses hp) leading to your design being pulled into unintended directions.

In conclusion, if your game wants to portray or encourage engagement with a specific theme, a well implemented core mechanic can be a powerful tool to achieve that. Not every game needs a CM, but it's good to have it in your toolbox. Equally important is to not accidentally have a CM emerge out of the dynamics in your design that might communicate a different theme than what you were aiming for.

[morningstarascending]

Life No Longer Silenced - Part 8

Well major problem with the family had happened, bad enough a neice get hurts. I came to a point and made a choice, I disowned my entire family. I wont talk to anyone but the kids if I can but your know how family can be. The adults are all horrible people that don't learn from there mistakes. Things became worse after the last two GM's and then they went out quick with a new one now but he seems to know his stuff. The new service manger keeps hiring old coworkers of his from his last job and it causing stress. Especially when two were over heard said all old employees will be replaced with his. Too many old employees are getting punished when new ones are making mistakes. Favoritism, manager sould be treating everyone equally. I work with a couple of immature genz, one that like to be childish and selfish, another that is curious like a five year old and the maturity of a twelve year old. I choose to set up my bounderies and not play these games and that one hates it when I don't sink down to their level. They placed someone in charge of our deparment and it was trouble from the start. Well that leader position doesn't exist and created more stress. The trouble maker tried to get me to have him removed and say he doesn't know what he is doing, because he wanted to be supervisor . They also try to start romours about other employees and I shot them down and ignored it. Lately they tried to get me to side with them and I put up bounderies with them. Now said person doesn't like much anymore, I don't care. Keep your trouble to yourself. I must be cursed, a manget for toxicity. Well I tried to get tranfered to a different position and I getter treated poorly again. I ask for a tranfer with the GM, they'll look into it. My "department leader" then has a meeting says I am second in command, since I want a transfer. What is wrong with people, this caused even more division in the department. I swear all the new emplyees were hired to create a toxic and abusiv enviroment. I am becoming more stressed and annoyed, working outside in severe heat index, uncaring managers and, toxic coworkers. It is already bad that I hate lying, I and blunt and honest, sometimes brutally honest. So I can come out intemidating and scary. It is hard when the pain in the body is getting worse, with heat and lazy cowarkers. So the team became more distant and reported me cause I was upset with everything. I will always be misunderstood even when I just don't like to be abused and walked all over. I just want to live and enjoy life. Yet people want to torment me and create stress, I want none of that at all. I am not sure what to but keep improving upon myself. This is now up to this point in my life. I will just post moments or Memories as they come.

[kawaoneechan]

Smells like SCI Spirit

If you're going to make an adventure game in SCI Companion (or gods forbid SCI Studio) there are certain things that you might want to look out for. Missing them may make your game look somewhat lazy to those who know what to look for.

SCI0

"Colors" setting: since the template is based on Leisure Suit Larry 3, it inherited the option to specify any combination of 16 window background and text colors.

MT-32 patch: easily missed depending on what you're testing with, early SCI0 fangames mightn't have had any MT-32 testing done at all. Thus you might miss that the MT-32 patches are straight from Larry 3 (again), including the startup messages, and your background music may not sound as good as one might hope, with mismatched instruments.

BriPro logo: instead of the Sierra mountain logo, the first character in three out of five included fonts is the letters BP, for Brian Provinciano.

Template Guy: as I like to call him. The dude with the blue shirt and gray pants. He's the default player character.

You might consider all that to be in the past, considering it literally is, but there's still projects actively in development that target SCI0/01.

SCI11

Blueish grays: since this template is based on Space Quest 5, the original version used to have SQ5's palette as opposed to, say, the default SCI palette. The later template, before I even all but took over the project, had this replaced.

Template Guy: he's back, and I myself specifically made him so you wouldn't be stuck with Roger Wilco. Same things apply as in SCI0 though.

The font: by default, the SCI11 template comes with three common fonts and one specific to SQ5, and uses this as the default. It has no distinction between upper and lower case.

Status line: even to this day, the template game includes SQ5's custom-drawn status line, with the raised border.

Inefficient polygons: a bit technical, might have to go into detail in another post, but early versions of SCI Companion used a rather hackish way to import external polygon data (where can you go, like in my pathfinder woes) which ate a lot of memory for no good reason. Later versions allow you to use the &getpoly command that I added, a bit of syntactic sugar that imports the polygon data in such a way you can't tell it apart from Sierra's code.

There's no BriPro logo in the SCI11 template's fonts, it's the Sierra logo, but on the other hand only Leisure Suit Larry 6 has a menu bar despite being an SCI11 game, so you'd rarely if ever get to see it. The MT-32 patch is Sierra's own near-GM patch, and includes a "SIERRA ON-LINE" message.

Y'know what, I think I might just go ahead and remove that custom status line...

[sunglasses-snake]

I've had a long week;

Tuesday my coworker wanted to be at the pay station, that's where we sell memberships and get good reviews for good customer service. It's our most "service worker" position and typically only goes to like 3 of us cause we the only ones who smell good enough. When my boss told us to switch, cause he made me go in the tunnel, he threw a hissy fit (complete with stomping and screaming) (this is a 43 year old man btw who openly carries a gun off shift) and stormed off leaving me to work a 10 hour shift by myself (closing too btw). It was supposed to only be 6 hours. Didn't get fired either, only written up AGAIN. This is the 7th time in the 5 months I've been working here and he STILL WORKS HERE.

Thursday I'm working with the same coworker. He spends all shift out at the pay station cause our boss isn't here to force him off and I don't want to work alone again. (It's extremely hard, you have to balance like 30 things at once and it's EXHAUSTING). Ended up working by myself anyway cause when I say all shift I mean the hour and a half he was actually "working" while I was here. He spent 20 minutes in the bathroom when I first got there, spent an HOUR AND A HALF polishing his motorcycle and then immediately after he says to me "I'm taking my break" and POOF for the next 30 minutes. Came back in his car and proceeded to smoke weed for the rest of shift. When time to close came, he took 40 minutes to spray the tunnel, the easiest job btw, and I had to do everything else. I couldnt leave until he is done either. He lives 3 minutes away. I HAVE A 40 MINUTE WALK.

Friday was a normal day until SOMEONE TRIED TO HIT ME WITH THEIR CAR. "Oh they probably didn't see you" said the police. The only reason I'm alive is cause their tires did a slight burnout before they started moving making a loud screech that warned me.

Yesterday I got yelled at by my gm cause my boss threw me under the bus. She said I was the reason sales were so low last month, that I was lazy out at the pay station. I have the most sales but she takes credit for like 70% of mine cause she refuses to let me put them in. I got yelled at and written up. Later that day I get a text from my ex asking to hang out. I said no cause that usually means she's gonna try and take some money from me. Then a (I'm not saying this to shame her, just point out she was *quite* a character) bright pink Mercedes-Benz wouldn't stop and pulled onto a roller that was actively coming out and it ripped her bumper off and fucked up the base plate on our machine. So now I had to file an incident report and fix the base plate. The incident report took 20 minutes which is like really fast, the lady who was dressed in a skintight bright pink body suit, one of those puffy jackets ALSO bright pink, Bright blond hair and had some of the longest eye lashes I had ever seen, was extremely helpful and was really nice. (Probably the nicest person to me this week). She really helped speed along the process. She admitted on the report that she was not paying attention and was on her phone. She also offered to pay for any damages to the machines, I turned her down cause base plates are easy as fuck to fix. Speaking of the base plate, when I eventually got around to putting that back together I had a customer ( who got a full refund btw) talking to me about how it was unacceptable that he had to wait 15 minutes and didn't even get the wash. Base plate got fixed and work resumed as normal. What was my coworkers doing during that whole thing? Hotboxing the first coworkers mention car. Like... actual hotboxing. On the clock. With zero repercussions. That doesn't even end the day btw, when I got home and finished puking cause of stress (common thing I've talked with my doctor about it, she recommended me my current therapist) I tried to log on to my PS5 and my subscription had run out so I had to ask my sister to pay for it and I'll get her back on Wednesday. More puke.

Today is shaping up to be as bad cause I always sit at a bench down the street to rest my feet before my shift and my coworker who was late got angry at me for not coming in ASAP to help open. I closed last night btw. When I walked up, another coworker saw me, smiled, and immediately stopped doing the towels and left them there for me to do. Wanna know what he went to do? Sit in his car. When I went out to the pay station, he didn't even bother getting out of his car, he just honked and signaled for me to be in the tunnel. Again. Later when my boss asks me why nothing has been sold, I have to explain to her it's cause they sit in their car and put in the bare minimum effort. Hearing that you think "minimum wage minimum effort" they make $16 an hour. That's not minimum wage. *I* make minimum wage. I've been here an hour and a half and I'm about make myself puke on purpose just to go home and fuck these guys over.